I’m on leave of absence from work starting today until next week. We have an insane schedule ahead of us because of Rain’s PH visit and I think this demands full attention. The last thing I want now is more stress from work to add to my current stress from fangirling, so an LOA is in order. It’s a good thing that Rain decided to fly straight to Cebu instead of going to Manila; he’s supposed to arrive in the Philippines today as told by a local entertainment site’s Twitter account, which turned out to be false because he flew in to Cebu yesterday morning. Per my sources, this was not the original plan. If the original plan pushed through, you wouldn’t be reading this entry now because I’ll probably be at the airport waiting for his arrival, or has started with the stalking process.

Speaking of which… hey fellow Pinoy fans, I know this is finally our opportunity to be like the other fans from other countries and post our own personal fan accounts, but please bear in mind: RAIN’S PRIVACY SHOULD BE OUR NO. 1 PRIORITY. Please learn not to be too intrusive, and learn to filter those that need to be posted on the internet for the whole world to know. Although the publication of his exact whereabouts mainly should be blamed on his own staff who posted the pic of his location on Twitter (really, Dong Joon-ssi… it’s quite easy to use Google to know where that pic was taken from ), but to post stuff like, “he did this and that at this exact hour” is waayyy too intrusive. Don’t tell me stuff like, “but the Japan/China/etc etc fans did that, too!” Just because everyone does it, should you do it, too, even if it’s wrong? Just so you know, most of those fans also filter the stuff they post on the internet. Remember, his hotel is his temporary home. He’s supposed to enjoy his private time there. Sightings in public places is ok, I suppose, but hotel stuff? Na-ah.

Anyway… since Rain is several islands away from me and I have no plans of flying all the way there just to stalk (my wallet’s pretty dried up at this stage and the concert hasn’t even happened yet), I decided to use this unexpected free time to catch up on sleep. I think I slept a grand total of 8 hours in the past 2 weeks or so. When I woke up this noon, it’s busy, busy, busy time once again, replying to queries, planning and monitoring the activities, etc.

And you know what makes this crazier? On top of Fugitive filming and the Intensity concert, Polyeast Records has announced that they’re releasing Back To The Basic Asian Edition in the Philippines in time for the concert. We had a meeting with the record execs last night along with MBLAQ-PH and Infinity-PH and it was very productive. I think J Tune and Mnet made the right decision to entrust BTTB and MBLAQ’s Y to them. They’re very enthusiastic about the project and they’re very open to the fan clubs’ suggestions on how to market the CDs here. Please watch out for announcements on CloudPH’s website, Twitter and Facebook pages as regards the album release. Right now, we’re focusing more on the concert because of certain deadlines, but once we get things settled we will start mass promotions for BTTB. I assure you, it’s going to be really exciting for the Philippine fans and our overseas guests, too.

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I’d like to share a little story from last night. We were having dinner and Rizza received a phone call from an unknown number. She’s been receiving a lot of that lately so it’s not so surprising. The caller is a Filipino and she was inquiring about how she can avail of the CPH T-shirt. It wasn’t until after a few minutes when she revealed that she’s not in the Philippines; she is in London. And then she asked about our friend Dahly. She said that if Dahly does not win the contest, she is going to send money for Dahly’s concert ticket so that Dahly could watch. Rizza told her that there is no need for that because we entered Dahly to the contest only for the Meet and Greet. Dahly already has a concert ticket (and a moshpit one, at that). But I find it so endearing how Dahly’s story has touched so many people, even those who are not in our country. It’s really a very inspiring story and I really hope that even if she doesn’t win the M&G slot, it will send a positive message to all fans (not just of Rain’s) that fangirling may be just a hobby or a passion for most of us, but for some like Dahly, it’s something a lot more than that. For them, it’s a way to cope up with life’s struggles.

This is like asking for the moon and the stars, but I also hope that even if Dahly doesn’t win the contest, I hope that her story would reach Rain. (Then again, I once said that Rain going to the Philippines for a concert is only possible once pigs could fly. Last time I checked, pigs still don’t have wings.)

God really likes playing his funny little jokes.

I was so down and out when I woke up yesterday morning owing to the very disappointing developments that we had last Tuesday. I felt so bad that I could barely hold back my tears on my way to work (sorry, drama queen in the house). News was a bit scarce yesterday morning, too, with no word yet from J Tune.

Then, around 12:30pm, I snuck out of work to go to the bank and then go the CPH meeting with the promoters of Rain’s concert. I was on my jeepney ride to Malolos when Kairu texted me to say that AYC has posted something new on their Facebook page: “INTENSITY feat. Rain, U-KISS and Gab Valenciano” (note: Gab was later replaced by Christian Bautista)

WHAT?!?! U-KISS?!?!? Where did that come from??

I swear, I was so floored that tears started welling up again (told ya, drama queen in the house). I think anyone who has been reading this blog knows my entire history with U-KISS. All the frustration and disappointment that I felt in the morning disappeared just like that. I thought, things really do happen for a reason. I’ve always wondered how come every time I lose hope about Rain, something U-KISS-related gains back that hope. Believe it or not, even with CPH’s neverending quest to find answers from J Tune as regards the PH concert, a Korean Kiss-Me offered valuable assistance to contact J Tune in Korea. Who would have thought that it all leads to an event that will have both Rain and U-KISS in my own country? And then I remembered what I wrote on the entry before this one. I wrote about U-KISS coming back here and what it could mean to me. Was that a premonition of things to come? Am I leeching off some powers from Ann or something?

I don’t know what I have done to deserve this. But I think, whatever it was, it was something good.

PS: We were told that it was J Tune which recommended U-KISS to the organizers in lieu of MBLAQ. Really, who would’ve thought?

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Here’s the official concert poster:

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I know MBLAQ fans in the Philippines are disappointed that the boys couldn’t make it but… why are you blaming the organizers for it? Didn’t it ever occur to you that it might be MBLAQ who has their reasons why they couldn’t come? And why take it on U-KISS?

Yung iba kasi, makasalita lang eh. Di na nag-iisip. Hay..

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I also don’t get why the “50-minute issue” has become that, an issue. Rain’s Six To Five Fashion concert is an hour and a half, and half of that is a fashion show. Yet the tickets cost about double the price of this concert’s tickets. That was not an issue before. Some fans even paid triple the price for VVIP seats. Why is this an issue now?

I guess a clarification is in order:

1. 50 minutes refer to the duration of Rain’s performance, not including the ‘talk’ part (if any).
2. 50 minutes is Rain’s part in the entire show. It does not include Christian Bautista’s and U-KISS’ sets.

So basically, we will see Rain for about an hour on stage. Just like in Six To Five. Is that understood?

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Honestly, if I am a Rain fan and not counting any other reasons why I couldn’t go to this show, I wouldn’t dare miss this. This may be one of the last times that we will be seeing him perform live before his enlistment, particularly outside of Korea.

Hey, you know that thing I’ve been wondering about regarding the fact that everyone in Pinoy Kpopdom seemed to know about Rain’s Manila concert except Cloud Philippines? I only had two theories: One, there is no concert. Two, there must be some other Rain fan club out there who outsmarted us and got the exclusive info.

Since there is a concert (Rain’s dancer confirmed it. Whadya know, J Tune’s spokespersons are Rain’s cameraman and Rain’s dancer?), it can only be theory number two.

Apparently, it IS theory number two. Except… it’s not even a Rain fan club.

You know what? Cloud Philippines is not asking for exclusivity. What we’re asking for is at least a heads up. When your own favorite artists come to the Philippines, we never mess up with you. We let you have your moment. THIS is supposed to be our moment. The least you can do is INFORM US what’s really happening before you do something major such as announcing that you have Meet and Greet passes. We’re supposed to be one ‘community’ here. What happened?

Common courtesy lang sana. Yun lang naman eh. Put yourselves in our shoes: if, say, Big Bang or JaeChunSu (or Changmin and Yunho) comes over and for some weird reason I am in close contact with the organizers, so I decided to let Cloud Philippines organize something for them without at least informing BB-PH or Cass-PH. If you’re a BBPH or Cass core, wouldn’t you feel insulted? Or let’s make this more realistic: if U-KISS comes over. Everyone knows that Xander’s father promised me something once they come back. I’m sure, if I get exclusive access beyond the Death Zone and I’m not even a fan, every single KissMe will be glaring at me in envy. It’s as simple as that. That’s not difficult to understand, right?

Same goes to the sponsors. I’m sorry, but I still cannot fathom how even road managers of Kpop artists have found Cloud Philippines and you didn’t.

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Update on the J Tune confirmation of Rain’s Manila concert as of today, August 25, 2010:

Rain and J Tune did not say anything about the concert at the Macau presscon yesterday. In fact, Rain even said they’d be breezing through the filming here as fast as possible and get outta here as quickly as possible because of what happened last Monday. Can’t blame them, but… a bit of an exaggerated reaction, if you ask me.

One of Rain’s dancers Tweeted that Rain is indeed having a show in Manila, but it’s not a solo concert. There will be Filipino singers as guests, and Rain’s part is only 50 minutes.

Ok. So after Dong Joon, Sungtak is the new J Tune spokesperson.

Source: Ticketworld site. You may check this site for info on how to buy your tickets (if you’re willing to risk it).

I just want to make it absolutely clear that this blog nor Cloud Philippines is NOT confirming nor making an announcement that this concert is absolutely, 101% confirmed. So please J Tune, don’t call us frauds or anything. If we get the confirmation that we need, we’ll let everyone know. Well, CloudPH will, not me.

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Edited, August 23, 2010; 1:35am

I realize that some people may have chanced upon this post while Googling about the concert, and might have gotten some misconceptions with what I posted here. In fact, someone already reacted wrongly at the Comments section.

To all those who just found this page via a search engine: if you don’t know the whole story why I said “buy at your own risk”, please just bite your tongue. I have already lost the little patience I have explaining things to people who just react without knowing the full story. Thank you.

It’s kinda weird how I’ve been going online regularly every day and yet I haven’t updated my blog as often as I used to. There’s actually a lot of things I want to say. Unfortunately, I can’t talk much right now. Not yet, anyway. You would know the reason one of these days.

But in case anyone is looking for updates: as of this writing, the PH side still insists that Rain’s PH concert is confirmed. I’m talking about more than one source here. However, J Tune side still says that they don’t know anything about that concert. So… I dunno.

Also, my sources in Macau tell me that nobody there has heard anything about Rain’s PH concert, nor Fugitive’s filming schedule in the Philippines. The latest Tweets that Kairu got from Rain’s cameraman (yes, Dong Joon specifically @mentioned Kairu on his Tweet so the credit is all hers) was last August 16, around 9:20pm (PH time), and he said that they haven’t received their filming schedule for PH yet, and that he’s still checking with Ticketworld regarding the concert.

So again… I dunno.

What I can proudly say, though, is that our sources were direct and not mere “hearsay” nor coming from “a friend of a friend”, nor copy-pasted from other sources.

O hayan, ha, me update na. Higop na, dali!

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Edited to add this:

I am not in a position to speak on behalf of CloudPH anymore for reasons that I cannot say outright yet (and frankly, why should everything I say on this blog must be reflected on CPH just because I’m a CPH admin?), but I just want to put it on record that just because CPH has been silent about Rain’s PH visit for whatever reason, it doesn’t mean we’re sleeping on the job. One of these days, you will all just end up eating your words, so just go ahead and spurt them all.